Life on the Road (And Excerpts from Hayley's Journal)
by my shangri-la
Summary: Crossing the country alone with your baby is hard enough. Add a semi-truck full of un-dead, unconscious companions to the mix, and it becomes downright difficult. Hayley searches for cures for the Mikaelson family so she can wake them up and save Klaus from Marcel. (More characters as the story continues.)
1. Chapter 1

_**Life on the Road (And Excerpts from Hayley's Journal)**_

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything from _The Originals_ or The CW.**

 **Summary: Crossing the country alone with your baby is hard enough. Add a semi-truck full of un-dead, unconscious companions to the mix, and it becomes downright difficult. Hayley searches for cures for the Mikaelson family so she can wake them up and save Klaus from Marcel.**

 _ **Chapter 1**_

Hayley pulled the heavy door of the truck closed and locked it, resolve and responsibility weighing heavy on her shoulders. She felt regret as she looked back one last time toward the middle of the city.

 _It felt so wrong._

As much as she and Klaus often bumped heads, or flat out tried to rip each other's heads off, they'd finally come to some kind of peace. She knew no one would love their little girl more then they did. Taking Klaus from his daughter was cruel. Marcel wasn't the man he used to be.

Hayley often wondered if that was just the cost of being King in New Orleans, or if the Mikaelsons had made him that way.

Either way, the chess board had been set.

Now, they were all playing a role in the game.

It would up to Hayley to start a new board.

She dropped an envelope in the post office box on the corner before getting behind the wheel and started the engine. Marcel would receive her letter a few days after she was gone.

Hayley glanced at Hope, and the letter Klaus had left with their little girl to fill the absence. _It wouldn't be enough._

She reached over and adjusted her daughter's blanket with a slight smile before glancing in the rear view mirror with cold eyes. There was nothing left for her in New Orleans right now.

For now though, they had to get as far away as possible. She's been entrusted with precious cargo, and the knowledge that she alone was the only one not bearing the Mikaelson family name that had ever been trusted enough to guard what she couldn't help but consider a family crypt on wheels. _She would keep them safe until she could wake them up._

Hayley drove northwest.

00

Two days after Marcel put Klaus behind bricks, he found an envelope in his mail with curvy, precise handwriting, a postage stamp, and no return address.

He opened it.

Whatever he'd expected… _this hadn't been it._

It was from Hayley.

 _Marcel,_

 _I'll be gone by the time you get this. You told me a long while ago to get out while I still could. I didn't make that choice, but I knew you were only saying that because you were trying to protect me. (Or maybe I agreed with you, but I knew I'd never be able to keep my child from her family completely.) You're not who you used to be… the man who saved my life when my family was slaughtered? Where was that man when you took Hope's family from her? She did nothing to deserve any part of the life I had growing up._

 _Hope deserves two parents who loved her. (And not too long ago, I would have considered you someone who would have protected her.)_

 _Klaus loves her._

 _She deserves to feel that, and not have it taken because you were angry, hurt, and needing revenge. I know you feel betrayed, and you're grieving Davina's death. So am I. There are so many things that shouldn't have happened. I'm sorry, Marcel._

 _Family is sacred._

 _You and I will see each other again._

 _You have something of mine, and eventually, I'm going to come take it back._

 _Always & forever,_

 _~ Hailey ~_

Alone in his apartment, Marcel ran his finger over the jagged edge of the paper that had been ripped from a journal. He threw away the envelope, but folded the letter small enough to fit in his wallet. Marcel would pray Hayley's need to take care of her daughter overrode her anger and she stayed away.

He poured himself a heavy-handed drink as he made a call.

"Hey, Romero. Do me a solid and keep track an eye on Hayley Marshall for me… No, no. Don't engage with her. She'll kill your ass." Marcel's eyes rolled. "I don't want you to bring her back here. Leave her be. Just…" his hands raked over his face. "Keep her out of trouble if it comes to that, otherwise stay out of her way. I don't want her to end up a target because I have Klaus…. And I don't want their daughter to grow up an orphan."

 **00**

 **A/N: Okay, so Chapter 1 has been edited a bit. The heart of the story remains the same, but I needed to fix and change a few things before moving on with this story. The next chapter will also be edited! Thanks!**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Life on the Road (And Excerpts from Hayley's Journal)**_

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything from _The Originals_ or The CW.**

 **Summary: Crossing the country alone with your baby is hard enough. Add a semi-truck full of un-dead, unconscious companions to the mix, and it becomes downright difficult. Hayley searches for cures for the Mikaelson family so she can wake them up and save Klaus from Marcel.**

 _ **Chapter**_ _ **2**_

Hayley's third lead had taken her to New Jersey, and it hadn't panned any better than the first two. There had been stops in North Carolina and two cities on opposite sides of Pennsylvania first. She was getting annoyed with the questions.

 _'Yes, she knew this mark was a curse.'_ (She was a hybrid, not a moron.)

 _'No, she couldn't make the original witch take the hex mark off her friend.'_ (The witch was dead, and wasn't likely to do her any favors when she was alive anyway - hence the hex mark, thanks for paying attention.) _She was starting to see why Klaus didn't bother with questions: it was exhausting._

And finally, one of two answers: ' _our coven doesn't do dark magic'_ _or 'we don't do favors for vampires… or Mikaelsons'_. Hayley had a feeling that finding a solution would come at a steep price.

Not only that, but Hope missed Klaus… and everyone else. They weren't used to so much quiet.

As for herself... she would rather be doing this with him than alone while he was trapped in New Orleans. _Not just because it was hard to look threatening while holding a child_ _in her carrier_ _._ And Hope's presence caused more questions than she liked. But it wasn't like she could leave her daughter with her unconscious relatives as babysitters. They had odd lives, but that was too much. She refused to trust anyone else.

In New Jersey, Hayley finally tracked down a coven that practiced dark magic. She spent two weeks there, the semi tucked away in a storage unit, and saw things she wished she could wipe from her mind when it was over. They couldn't help her as much as she would have liked, but they told her where her final destination would be, and how to find the witch that would help her.

By now, she had been on the road for eleven weeks, stopping only for a day or two when necessary to give Hope a break from being in the car. Hayley was living on coffee, blood, and the occasional bite of a burger. She probably looked like she needed the sleep she'd been avoiding if strangers' glances were any indication.

Hope slept best while she drove, so she usually drove at night if she could, and did as much research as possible during the day. She'd started with Rebekah purposefully, knowing it would be the easiest - even if it wouldn't be easy at all. But once it was finished, at least she would have a partner to help her fix the impossible.

Hayley took another night there at the hotel in New Jersey and made sure she ate a decent meal. Hope played with her hair as Hayley held her.

All this time on the road alone with her daughter made Hayley realize how much she'd come to rely in the Mikaelsons. She'd never wanted to rely on anyone after she'd run away as a teenager. Being thrown out of her home the night she'd unknowingly triggered her curse had made general mistrust a principle to live by for a long time. But they had become her family... dysfunctional as hell, but still her family, and she missed them all. It was hard now, not having a support system after getting used to it.

Hayley settled Hope in her sleeper pen visible in the reflection of the mirror and took a quick shower so they could leave first thing in the morning. Hope was still asleep with her pacifier in her mouth when Hayley came out fifteen minutes later.

She couldn't say she was ready for bed herself though. Hayley knew she should be. It would be a good idea to catch up on some sleep. They had a long drive ahead of them.

A glance at the clock told showed the time.

9:36 p.m.

Hayley shook her head lightly, and then rolled her eyes. She must be going a bit crazy on her own, disagreeing with herself. But then again, the last few months had been filled with arguing with witches and baby talk, so yeah.

Her gaze traveled to her bag of clothes she had set on top of the small round table.

At the bottom of it was a leather-bound journal. Rebekah had given it to her before Hope was born. She'd never gotten a chance to write in it. Now… well, the first page was ripped out.

It had been sent as a letter to Marcel. Maybe it hadn't been the wisest idea, but she wasn't just skulking away to lick her wounds. Klaus hadn't been wrong about her. When she was backed into a corner, she'd come out swinging. She'd grown up angry, and she had a few bar brawls under her belt to prove it – long before she'd even been twenty-one. But now? Having something to fight for… it was a fight she refused to lose.

Hailey went to the small, round table by the dingy window and pulled the journal from the bottom of the bag. She opened it slowly and pulled out the gold pen. She remembered staring at Rebekah incredulously, saying that the pen must have cost more than a car.

' _Only a small, crappy car, love'_ , Rebekah had answered with a grin.

A small grin crossed Hayley's face as she moved her duffel bag off the tabletop and sat in the opposite chair, pulling her legs up to tuck her feet under her.

She stared at the blank pages for nearly five minutes before she started writing.

 _Klaus,_

 _It's been nearly three months already. It seems like longer. I hate this. I didn't expect to enjoy this situation… not that there was much time to think, really. But I really didn't anticipate exactly how much I would hate this. I hate not knowing if I'm running out of time. I hate feeling like I'm searching for answers that aren't even there to be found._

 _Most of all, I hate that I have no one I trust with our daughter. I can't let her out of my sight even for a second, and that's terrifying._

 _I hate that she waits for you to come around every corner right now. She misses you. And I'm afraid this will go on for so long, she'll stop. I don't want that._

 _After Davina brought me back from my wolf time-out, and I was so angry at you… Elijah asked me once, what I would tell Hope about our family when she got older. (I think he was sure at that point I would find some way to leave again and make us both disappear. I'm glad we got beyond that.)_

 _I told him I would tell her the truth. All of it. I won't keep things from her. But I told him the story would start with the promise that had been made at the very beginning: always and forever. A story about a family that would do anything to protect each other. In the end, it doesn't matter how hard we fight each other or what grudges were held for centuries – you guys are really old, seriously – we fight even harder for this family, to protect each other._

 _I want her to know we made mistakes. I want her to know we made hard choices and hurt people, and what the consequences were._

 _She'll grow up and make mistakes, Klaus. She needs to know we'll be there anyway._

 _I used to be good at being alone. Before I met you, I'd never had a real family. It's taken a lot of time, and we're dysfunctional as hell sometimes, but we're a family. I'm looking for a cure for Rebekah right now. I can't just hand over Mikaelson witch blood to a witch I don't know… This is just a really complicated puzzle, and I need some help._

 _I don't want too much time to go by._

 _I don't want you to miss out on watching your daughter grow up. She needs both of us, and she'll have us… one way or another._

 _It's too quiet, and I hate these witches._

 _I'm heading to Illinois. Hopefully they can take away Rebekah's hex mark… As soon as we have an antidote for Marcel's venom, we're coming back to New Orleans. I have some heads to tear off. Sooner rather than later, so I don't have to write another one of these and feel like even more of an idiot._

 _H_

She refused to sign her name in her own journal. She had the sudden urge to rip the damn pages out – _all_ _three –_ and burn them. But her hand paused flat on the pages of her writing for a moment, and she forced herself to close the journal.

It was after ten now, and Hope was still asleep. Hayley turned off the light and crawled into bed. She forced herself to relax and go to sleep – not to think about how steep the price would be that the witches would require to remove the hex from Rebekah.

 **00**

 **A/N: The second chapter has also been revised in a few minor places. Thank you, everyone who has waited for this story to continue for so long. Yes, it's happening. No, I'm not Julie Plec, so don't worry, this won't end like the show did. For god's sake.**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Life on the Road (And Excerpts from Hayley's Journal)**_

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything from _The Originals_ or The CW.**

 **Summary: Crossing the country alone with your baby is hard enough. Add a semi-truck full of**

 **un-dead, unconscious companions to the mix, and it becomes downright difficult. Hayley searches for cures for the Mikaelson family so she can wake them up and save Klaus from Marcel.**

 _ **Chapter**_ _ **3**_

Hayley woke up gasping for air, feeling like there was a hand at her throat. She sat up and quickly checked to make sure Hope was alright and hadn't been wakened by her nightmares.

Hope was still asleep, and it was still dark so she glanced at the clock. It was just after four.

She slipped out of bed and went to the bathroom to get a drink of water. No way was she going back to sleep after that.

Hayley was sick of being haunted by these nightmares. She didn't even have the luxury of waking up and knowing that they were only dreams. Her dreams had already come true. She wanted to go more than two nights in a row without seeing all the dead bodies behind her eyelids. So many people had lost their lives-

 _How could she keep her daughter untainted from the violence that ran through the vein of this family when she, herself, was still so affected?_

She didn't have time to grieve or slow down enough to think about anything but what she had to do.

Time was running out.

 _It was always running out._

She rubbed her forehead. _Could hybrids even get migraines?_

Hayley decided to shower and pack their things so they could get on the road again after breakfast.

00

While Hayley had been searching for witches to remove Rebekah's hex, and keeping the vials she had of Freya's blood safe for now, she had been using a map to plot the fastest route to start tracking the werewolf clans Lucien had used to make the original toxin. (Until she hit a lucky break with Rebekah's hex, she would be unlikely to find witches capable of handling Freya's poisoning.) She knew without the power of the Ancestors, whatever witches she found to do the spells she needed, it would take a lot longer than Hayley would like it to. She would use that time to track down the locations of the other six original werewolf packs… or at least, the last location she had as a starting point from the wolves she'd rescued from Lucien's warehouse. She'd helped them get home, and had a contact number for each of them.

It would be a hell of a lot easier if she could shift to travel. She had a feeling that at least a few of the packs probably relocated after their members had been returned.

But that was impossible with Hope.

She could imagine the headlines that might crop up.

'Large wolf spotted carrying baby in a backpack.'

She laughed under her breath, glancing toward her sleeping daughter who slept as she drove through the night toward Illinois. Laughing at her own terrible jokes was just sad… About as sad as everything else right now.

00

It took Hayley almost eight more _months_ before she found a coven of witches that was strong enough – and _willing –_ to harness the magic to lift Rebekah's hex, and it required her to hunt down a few more cursed objects than she would like before the spell could be completed. In that time, she stumbled across something else entirely on accident.

A small portion of the Northeast Atlantics.

 _Klaus's wolf pack._

It was no place for a child. It pained her to be separated from Hope, but it was necessary.

She made a phone call.

Mary, Jackson's mother, was all too happy to watch Hope for as long as she needed – after giving Hayley a lecture first about traipsing cross-country alone with a baby – and questioning Hayley's sanity and yelling at her for never calling.

Hayley met Mary at a small farm house she finally bought on several acres of land in Alabama.

"Are you sure about this?" Mary asked as Hayley said her last goodbyes to her daughter. "If something happens to you- you're the only mother this little girl has."

"Take care of her. I won't be able to reach you once I get into the mountains, so don't worry if you don't hear from me for a while. I'll call when I can."

"Hayley-"

"I'll be fine." She kissed the top of Hope's head gently. "Okay, sweetie. You're going to stay with Grandma Mary. Mommy will see you soon. I love you."

Mary took Hope, still obviously skeptical of this awful plan, and Hayley got into her car. Her bags were already in the trunk. It broke her heart a little to leave her daughter, but she had work to do.

00

It was a long drive to Colorado. Hayley stopped only twice in cheap motels to get some sleep before continuing on her way.

Driving such a length, Hayley's thoughts wandered, this time to Klaus's pack. She had met Ansel, Klaus's biological father – briefly, before Klaus had killed him – and she felt that he had been a man of honor, even if she did judge him for falling in love with Esther ( _that bitch_ ).

Hayley hadn't had too much experience with other wolf packs other than the Crescents other than her time with Hollis and his pack. But given her hybrid status she knew she was unlikeable throughout most of the werewolf community – partly because of fear, and partly because of the strife between the vampires and werewolves that had begun because of the Original family.

She'd tread lightly.

She had two things on her side: desperation, and she was twenty times more diplomatic than Klaus.

It didn't look like they got many visitors in their isolated area. It was a beautiful village they'd created in a clearing surrounded by one hundred-foot blue spruce trees, the smell of pine heavy in the air.

Hayley left her cell phone in the car and got out of her car, slipping the key in her pocket, walking around front to lean against the bumper, well-aware of her audience.

"You must be lost", a man stepped out from the gathering crowd.

Her eyes flicked over him quickly she let her senses widen. He was tall, blonde, tan, and had sharp green eyes, but his presence did not distinctly challenge hers.

She raised an eyebrow. "I'm not lost actually. My name is Hayley Marshall-Kenner, and I'm here to speak with your Alpha", she said easily.

The whispers began then.

" _Holy shit._ "

" _-the hybrid."_

" _She's a Mikaelson!"_

"The hybrid can hear you", Hayley stated mildly, smirking a bit. "It's kind of nice to hear the gossip first-hand", she mused as mouths clicked shut.

The screen door of the large building to her right slammed open. "What would send a hybrid like yourself up here to find our pack?" the man asked.

He was shaded by the darkness of the house, but she could make out his features. He was a bit gruff, maybe, but kind, reminding her of Jackson in a way that hurt a bit.

Hayley sighed and straightened. "I can imagine the stories you've heard about the Mikaelsons… maybe about me. I'd bet a lot of them are true. I don't want to waste your time, and I'm not hear to bring any trouble to your pack. Listen to my story, please. That's all I'm asking. If you don't want to help me… I won't ask again."

She heard his deep sigh from over fifty feet away. "Get in here. It's almost time for dinner. Eat first, business later. Luke! Quit glaring at our guest."

Hayley turned to glance back at the blonde man. She shrugged. "It's fine. I invited myself." She stopped with one foot on the bottom porch step. "Do I get a name?" she asked wryly.

She could see him smile just a bit.

"Roscoe. Come on, my wife Josie is inside grumbling at me for having no manners." He held the door open wider to let her pass. "This isn't a petting zoo", he called to the rest of the pack. "Come back at six-thirty for dinner like normal."

Hayley snorted.

 _It wasn't the worst reception she'd gotten from people who all but considered her a Mikaelson._

She was introduced to Josie, a thin, slight woman with white-blonde hair that fell in waves down her back. The woman looked Hayley over with eyes that were nearly golden on their own, intuitive and wolf-like, less human than most could allow and keep control without shifting.

"Thank you for letting me into your house", Hayley said seriously. "You could have just told me to leave. I wouldn't have blamed you."

Josie waved the hand holding the large knife she was using to chop vegetables. "Nonsense."

"Can I help?" Hayley asked hesitantly. "I meant what I said. I'm not a guest. I drove into your territory without an invitation. I know my way around a kitchen."

Roscoe groaned from where he was leaning against the counter. "You're going to make my wife like you, aren't you?"

"I- not on purpose?" Hayley smiled a bit.

There was a loud thump from above and everyone's eyes shot upward.

A high-pitched wailing began.

Footsteps ran across the floorboards above and then down the wooden staircase in back of the kitchen.

Hayley was a bit surprised to see a teenager carrying the screaming girl who looked close to Hope's age.

The poor teen was babbling, "I'm sorry Miss Josie, Lexi was fine. Kade tried to give her a toy and she started hollering like a cat with it's tail under a rocking chair-"

Josie had washed her hands and crossed the kitchen by then, taking the still crying child. "Rachel, Rachel, calm down. It's all right. She's a little fussy right now because she's got a few more teeth coming in. Everything is fine."

Hayley spotted a dark little head spying between the railings, watching the proceedings with an upset look on his face. She walked nonchalantly to the stairs and sat on the bottom step, leaving plenty of space.

"I'm Hayley", she said quietly. "Is that your sister?"

"Yeah." _Sniffle._

"My daughter is about her age… she _really_ hates when her teeth come in too. It makes her really cranky. And I hate it. Because I can't really give her anything fun that will help her. She doesn't even like her favorite stuffed animal sometimes. And I will _never_ give her my phone again. She broke my screen when she threw it because I wasn't looking. I had to get a new phone."

"Really?"

She glance up. "Yeah. It won't be forever. I bet you're a good big brother, huh."

"Yeah, Daddy says so."

"It's an important job", Hayley said thoughtfully. "But don't be too hard on yourself if she throws stuff at you for no reason. It's gonna happen." She grinned.

The little boy groaned. "Great."

"She'll still love you though. Promise."

"You sure?"

Hayley laughed under her breath. " _I_ know two of the most annoying brothers in the _world_. And they love each other more than anything they throw at each other… Even when it's furniture. I promise."

"Okay."

"Want me to go sneak you some carrots?" Hayley held out her hand as she stood up slowly. The boy nodded and followed her. "What's your name, kiddo?"

"I'm Kade."

"Well, it's very nice to meet you, Kade."

Josie was still trying to calm the baby they'd called Lexi when Hayley brought Kade over to the island and washed her hands before taking over the vegetable chopping.

"Fingers back; they look like baby carrots", she'd told the boy as he watched her chop efficiently while slipping him some baby carrots off to the side.

He gave her a skeptical look. "They do not."

She grinned at him. "Better safe than sorry?"

He huffed. "No fingers by knives; got it. You're as bad as Mom."

She handed him a small chunk of celery. "Thanks."

Roscoe came back into the kitchen then and took in the scene in front of him. "What's happening here exactly?" he asked calmly.

Hayley shrugged. "Mostly winging it. I was just finishing the chopping. I figured I'd go ask Josie in a minute and see what the next step was. She's a bit occupied."

Roscoe watched his wife carry Lexi upstairs with Rachel trailing behind. "Well, it looks like I have two new sous chefs. How about that?"

"You mean me, right?" Kade grinned widely.

"No knives", his father said sternly.

"Darn it!"

Hayley hid a smile.

00

 **A/N: FIRSTLY, the FIRST & SECOND CHAPTER WERE EDITED AND CHANGED JUST A BIT. It has been a good while since I've posted for this story so maybe you went back and started over anyway, but if not, got check it out. They aren't incredibly long chapters. I did add a few things, and I changed a few things that may be noticeable.**

 **So, this was the third chapter, FINALLY! Yay! Okay, so we've met Klaus's pack – for the first time. They will have more to do with this story, just FYI… Because I've always thought Klaus would be happier if he got in touch with his wolf-y side, so that's going to happen. Yes, it is! **squee!****

 **The next chapter is actually pretty much done. I want to edit it a bit I think, but it will be up by the weekend! Leave a review! Thanks for reading!**


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